IT201800007705A1 - Shelf and related assembly process - Google Patents

Description

Title: Shelf and related assembly process.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a shelf and a related assembly process.

The invention is particularly suitable for making glass shelves, but it can also be applied to any other material.

The invention is suitable for making both modular and custom-made shelves, especially bookcases.

By way of example, the invention is suitable for making the following combinations of upright / shelf indifferently: glass / glass, metal (alloy) / glass, glass / wood, metal / wood, glass / plastic-resins, composite and recycled materials etc. with various surface finishes: anodized, lacquered, resins and eco-mortars etc. The bookcase can be placed on the ground with a foot (in various materials) or without, fixed to the wall or to the "center of the room" (double-sided), with double or single upright and foot and opposite shelves on the two operator sides.

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

In the furniture sector, in particular in the medium-high range, there is now an increasing demand for "minimal" furnishing elements, that is, which do not contrast with the existing infrastructures and which only enhance the objects on display, but which at the same time guarantee an important structural solidity. Especially in furnishing bookcases this need is very much felt, because the shelves are often subjected to considerable loads due to the massive volumes housed. In addition, Architects and Designers require a certain linearity and visual continuity of these volumes, without the interruption given by the vertical uprights, support shelves, various supports and exposed accessories. This is clearly not an easy prerogative to satisfy by using "minimal" components, which disappear from the user's sight.

Often to give the bookcase greater stability and sturdiness, rigid "backs" or metal tie rods are used, but even these components clash with the minimalist aesthetic, fully invasive with respect to the structural elements that characterize the surrounding environment.

The use of glass often comes in handy, which is highly appreciated and requested by designers precisely because of its transparency.

However, it is very difficult, as well as expensive, given the characteristics of stability and fragility of the material, to make bookcase structures entirely in glass. They should be built by hand with a "beehive" type structure (filing cabinet) and glued with the invisible technique (grape), so for obvious reasons of fragility, bulk and weight, they are forcibly made in small separate modules and / or glued on site. Also in this case the prerogative of portability, modularity and ease of assembly of the product is lost, even by not highly specialized personnel. Normally, therefore, glass is often used only for the shelf, using metal for the vertical uprights and for functional hooks. In this case the glass is used substantially resting on special horizontal guides, or always with the same hooks or shelves (suitably adapted to the glass), as the other materials used for the shelves (wood, metal, etc.). Clearly, all this is a limit to the visual aesthetics sought by the market, as practically the glass shelf merely replaces the wooden or metal top, that is, it is interrupted by the various guides, shelves or visible hooks of the supporting structure.

The general purpose of the present invention is to overcome the problems of the known art, in particular by creating an elegant, linear and minimal furniture shelf, especially suitable for the general use of glass.

A further preferred object of the invention is to provide the characteristic of a "continuous" surface, ie without being interrupted at a constant rate by particularly invasive supporting brackets, uprights or various supports. Especially if there is a need to have homogeneous volumes (encyclopedias), aligning them in succession without interruption, precisely due to characteristic elements of the structure that "disturb" the "linear" vision. With the possibility of making both the vertical uprights and the shelves in glass (only the metal joining elements), you can have maximum transparency and enhancement of both the surrounding environment and the objects contained.

Another further preferred object of the invention is to provide a shelf that can be made both as a "standard", that is modular (constant vertical upright center distance), and easily customized by adapting to the architectural infrastructures present (beams, niches, etc.). In the "made-to-measure" case, the length of the top is solely linked to the availability of the material on the market.

Another preferred object of the invention is to provide a highly stable shelf even with uprights of minimal section.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

According to a first general aspect, the present invention relates to a shelf comprising at least one horizontal shelf and at least one vertical upright placed to support said shelf, characterized in that it comprises two locking elements placed to clamp the shelf together and anchored to said upright.

Advantageously, the locking is very strong and opposes the bending of the uprights and shelves due to the load, so that it is possible to make shelves with high load-bearing capacity and stability even with minimal elements.

Preferably, the two locking elements are clamped together by means of at least one clamping element passing through an opening of the shelf.

In this case, preferably a first of the two locking elements is anchored directly to the upright, while the other is anchored to the upright at least through the first.

According to some preferred embodiments of the invention, the upright only partially interrupts the continuity of the shelf, which has at least one continuity area placed in front of the upright.

For example, the depth in the front direction of the upright is less than the depth of the shelf, preferably less than or equal to half. Embodiments with a depth of the upright less than or equal to one third of the depth of the shelf have been tested and have proved to be sufficiently stable, therefore possible. For example, a 30/35 cm deep shelf with a 10 cm deep and 1 cm thick upright was tested.

Preferably the shelf comprises at least one notch which interrupts its continuity only partially and in which the upright penetrates so as to cross the shelf in the area behind the continuity area, preferably the upright has no housing seats for the shelf.

According to a particularly advantageous preferable feature, the notch provides lateral support to the upright so as to stiffen it by opposing its bending. This allows the use of particularly thin struts.

The upright preferably overlaps the shelf only for part of the depth of the shelf, for example the notch starts on one edge of the shelf and the upright is deeper than or equal to the depth of the notch, the upright partially penetrates the shelf and ends flush on said edge or further out.

Advantageously, the absence of housings on the upright makes it possible to produce more resistant minimal uprights, for example of particularly reduced thickness and depth and / or made of glass.

According to a particularly practical embodiment, the shelf comprising a through opening to allow the passage through it of a clamping element adapted to clamp the two locking elements together, preferably the notch is of a width corresponding to the width of the upright, and said opening is a portion of the notch wider than the upright.

In general, it is preferable that the two locking elements form a double collar around the upright, so as to have excellent opposition to the flexion of the shelves, which can thus be considerably cantilevered with respect to the upright.

For example, the two locking elements have a U shape, where the internal width of the U substantially corresponds to the thickness of the upright. Therefore, it is not excluded that the locking elements create a support that opposes the lateral bending of the upright.

According to some particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, the shelf has a notch with a width substantially equal to the thickness of the upright which starts from an internal side of the shelf and ends in a central area, the upright penetrates into the cutout, both elements of locking elements are U-shaped elements of internal width substantially equal to the thickness of the upright and placed to fork it, one placed under the shelf and one above, one of the two U-shaped elements is anchored to the upright by means of one or more screws, the other is anchored to the first by means of at least one screw passing through the shelf in a predetermined enlargement of said notch, the U-shaped elements embrace the upright for the entire depth of the notch, preferably the upright is plate-shaped, preferably with a thickness comprised in the range 5- 30 mm, more preferably 8-15 mm, where the value believed to become a standard is 10 mm.

According to another preferred general feature of the invention, the upright has at least one fixing area to the shelf where there are at least two anchoring points arranged in series with each other in a vertical direction at a distance greater than the distance necessary to block the shelf in a horizontal position.

In this case, for example, the shelf comprises a notch that extends for part of its depth and into which the upright penetrates to cross the shelf, at least the locking elements intended to provide the lower support to the shelf comprises anchoring means directed to said anchoring points of the upright, when the lower locking element is anchored to the lowest point and a retaining element is anchored to the highest point, they hold the shelf together in an inclined configuration with respect to the horizontal.

According to a second general aspect, the invention relates to a method for assembling a shelf comprising the following steps:

- prepare at least one upright and at least one shelf to be fixed to the upright,

- anchoring to the upright a first locking element of the shelf in a first anchoring point; - blocking a shelf holding element with respect to the upright at a height greater than that necessary to block the shelf in a horizontal position with respect to the locking element;

- retaining the shelf between the first locking element and the holding element in an inclined position with respect to the horizontal;

- use a second locking element to lock the shelf in a horizontal position between the first and the second locking element.

Advantageously, the second locking element can coincide with the retaining element.

The method is particularly advantageous for allowing a single operator to fix shelves that are considerably cantilevered with respect to the upright, or particularly long.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of its preferred embodiments, made with reference to the attached drawings and given by way of non-limiting example. In such drawings:

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of a shelf according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows two locking elements of the shelf of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a shelf of the shelf of Figure 1 partially represented for reasons of length;

- figure 4 shows in section, according to the plane IV of figure 1, a joining area between an upright and a shelf;

figure 5 shows the section of figure 4 in a perspective view;

figure 6 shows a double collar alternative to that of figure 2;

figure 7 shows an alternative shelf to that of figure 3 and suitable for the collar of figure 6;

Figures 8 to 10 show examples of shelves which can be produced according to the present invention;

- Figures 11 and 12 schematically represent the steps of a method of locking a shelf on an upright according to the present invention.

With reference to Figure 1, a shelf according to the present invention is shown, indicated as a whole with the reference number 1.

The shelf 1 comprises a plurality of shelves 2 and a plurality of shelf support elements, hereinafter referred to as uprights 3.

The shelf comprises a front side A and a rear side B, where the front side is intended to be the preferential access side for an operator, and the rear side is intended for example to be leaning against a wall of a building (not shown ).

Each upright 3 preferably has a vertical development direction, and is devoid of housings for the shelves so as to be continuous in all its parts.

For example, each upright is made with a plate, glass, steel or any other material.

More generally, the uprights 3 have a section where it is possible to identify a thickness H and a depth L> H, and are arranged in such a way that the depth is directed in the front-back direction of the shelf.

The plate 3 preferably has a constant section, for example substantially rectangular, where this definition also refers to sections with rounded edges or with other sections. Some samples were made with substantially rectangular 10X100 mm sections and were sufficiently robust and at the same time minimal to the eye. The vertical development, also called "development in height", can generally be any.

The uprights comprise a plurality of respective fastening areas 15 of the shelves, each comprising a plurality of anchoring points 16, arranged in series in a vertical direction, for example in two parallel rows.

Although in the example illustrated the anchoring points 16 are concentrated only in the fixing zones 15, variants are not excluded in which they are uniformly distributed along the whole upright, which therefore comprises a single fixing zone.

The shelves 2, according to a generalizable characteristic, are partially arranged alongside the uprights and partially in front of them, in this way the portion in front of the uprights forms an area of continuity 5 between the portions alongside the upright 6 and 7.

In the example illustrated, the depth L1 of the shelf 2 is greater than the depth L of the upright 3, and the latter ends, in the rear direction, at the rear edge 8 of the shelf.

However, it is not excluded that the upright ends further outwards or inwards with respect to the edge 8.

Each shelf generally comprises at least one housing seat 20 for an upright. In the illustrated example, this seat is a notch, which starts from the rear edge 8 and extends in the front direction up to the continuity area 5. The notch has a width substantially corresponding to the thickness H of the upright 3.

The locking of a shelf 2 with respect to an upright 3 takes place in general by anchoring to each upright a vice 10 which tightens the shelf 2 between the jaws 11 and 12.

The vice 10 is better illustrated in figure 2, where it is highlighted that it is a possible embodiment of a general double collar, that is a locking of the shelf comprising a lower collar 11 and an upper collar 12.

The interposition between collars and shelf of pvc gaskets (not shown) in the parts in contact, especially between different materials, is not excluded, eg: glass / metal.

In particular, the lower jaw 11 is a U-shaped locking element where the internal width substantially corresponds to the thickness H of the upright, and the length of the arms 13 is preferably at least equal to the depth L of the upright.

The arms 13 comprise one or more holes 22 directed horizontally towards the upright and suitable for the passage of locking screws which fit into the anchoring points 16. The locking points 16, given the thin thickness of the upright, are preferably through holes, so that the screw can pass through the upright placing itself in portions of the hole 22 placed on the two opposite arms 13 of the U.

The jaw 12 differs from the jaw 11 in that it does not have the holes 22, however it is not excluded that the two jaws are identical.

Both jaws have vertical holes, facing each other, and suitable for receiving clamping screws 25c (figure 12) which, by screwing, bring the jaws closer to each other.

In the illustrated example a hole 25 is shown for each arm 13, however two or more holes for each arm 13, or one or more holes only on one arm 13, or on the connecting arm of the two arms 13 are not excluded.

In use, one of the two jaws 11, 12 is placed under the shelf 2 and the other above, so as to clamp it together by the action of the screws 25c in the holes 25, which act as clamping elements. The latter pass through the shelf 2 thanks to special passage openings 28, made for example as a localized enlargement of the notch 20 (see Figure 3).

The arrangement is better illustrated in the sections of figures 4 and 5. As it will be noted, the end portions 25b of the holes 25 could conveniently be blind and threaded, while the inlet portions 25a could form the abutment for the head of a screw.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the variant with two holes 25 for each arm 13 of the jaws, in which case the notch 20 of the shelf 2 has as many passage openings 28.

The examples illustrated so far show that in general the shelves can have a length greater than the distance between two uprights and be cantilevered with respect to them, so as to preserve the continuity of the support surface which they form along the entire length of the cantilevered area.

The uprights, remaining further back than the cantilevered area, do not surmount it, and therefore are minimal to the eye.

Below we describe some examples, not exhaustive, demonstrating the aesthetic and functional variety of the shelves obtainable according to the present invention.

Figure 8 illustrates a variant of shelf 101 whose shelves 2 and uprights 3, although constructively the same as in Figure 1, are assembled together in such a way that some shelves have the continuity portion 5 positioned in front of the upright and others behind it. The reversibility of assembly of the shelves is possible thanks to the notch 20 which starts from the edge 8. The shelf 101 thus created, and equipped with a special foot 30 which extends both on the front and on the back, is suitable to be placed in the center of the room instead of leaning against a wall.

Figure 9 shows a further variant of shelf 201 which couples two shelves 1 of figure 1 to form a single shelf with feet 30.

Figure 10 shows a variant of the shelf 1 of Figure 1 comprising a ladder 40 sliding along the edge of one of the shelves 2 thanks to a sliding guide 42 applied to the edge of said shelf. in general it will be noted that the guide 42 can extend for a length greater than the distance of two uprights thanks to the continuity portions 5 of the shelves. In particular, by applying a shelf that extends along the entire length of the shelf, it is possible to easily create a sliding ladder for the entire length without guide interruptions.

The ladder can be coupled to the guide by using coupling flanges 44 which are the same or similar to the jaws 11 and 12, so as to obtain a certain aesthetic continuity. Such U-shaped flanges 44 are anchored to the ladder and support wheels 45 or sliding shoes on the guide 42.

With reference to Figures 11 and 12, the steps of an advantageous method for assembling a shelf according to the present invention are illustrated.

In a first step, the lower jaw 11 is fixed to the upright 3.

Subsequently, with respect to the upright 3, a retaining element 11b is locked in a higher position than that which is needed to lock the shelf 2 in a horizontal position.

This holding element can be the upper jaw 12, if it too has the horizontal holes 22.

Different retaining elements are not excluded, such as pegs that can be inserted into holes 16.

If the upper jaw 12 is fixed in the holes 16, it is fixed to a hole 16 higher than that which serves to perform the clamping action of the horizontal shelf.

At this point the shelf 2 is inserted making the upright penetrate into the notch 20. The shelf is held at an angle by the lower jaw 11 and by the holding element 11b.

Subsequently, being able to leave the shelf and therefore having the hands free, it is possible to lock the second jaw 12 with respect to the first jaw 11 to clamp the shelf together in a horizontal position.

This process is particularly advantageous for allowing a single operator to assemble the cantilevered shelves of the present invention.

If the jaw 22 is not suitable to be locked directly on the upright, for example due to the absence of the holes 22, and it is to be used as a holding element 11b, it can be fastened to the lower jaw 11 by only partially screwing the screw 25c into the tightening hole. 25, in this case, however, care must be taken to position the shelf with the upright in the notch before inserting the screw in hole 25. In this case, even if the vice is not completely tightened, the vertical screw 25c in hole 25 will hold the shelf, which can be tightened later. This eventuality is however less preferred and more complex, so it is preferable to use as a retaining element 11b an element which can be anchored directly to the upright, such as for example a pin or another collar 11, then the shelf is tightened by also inserting the collar 12 and by tightening it to the lower collar 11, the retaining element will in this case preferably be eliminated.

GENERAL INTERPRETATION OF TERMS

In understanding the scope of the present invention, the term "comprising" and its derivatives, as used herein, are intended as open-ended terms that specify the presence of the claimed characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or phases, but they do not exclude the presence of other undeclared characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or phases. The above also applies to words that have similar meanings such as the terms "including", "having" and their derivatives. Furthermore, the terms "part", "section", "portion", "member" or "element" when used in the singular may have the dual meaning of a single part or of a plurality of parts. As used herein to describe the embodiment above, the following directional terms "forward", "backward", "above", "below", "vertical", "horizontal", "below" and "transverse", as well as any other Similar directional term refers to a shelf in an operational position. Finally, degree terms such as "substantially", "about" and "approximately" as used herein mean a reasonable amount of deviation of the modified term such that the final result is not significantly changed.

While only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, the size, shape, position or orientation of the various components can be changed as needed and / or desired. The components shown directly connected or in contact with each other can have intermediate structures arranged between them. The functions of one element can be performed by two and vice versa. The structures and functions of one embodiment may be adopted in another embodiment. It is not necessary for all the advantages to be present in a particular embodiment at the same time. Any feature that is original compared to the prior art, alone or in combination with other features, should also be considered a separate description of further inventions by the applicant, including the structural and / or functional concepts embodied by those features. Therefore, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments according to the present invention are provided for illustrative purposes only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (12)

CLAIMS 1. Shelf comprising at least one horizontal shelf (2) and at least one vertical upright (3) positioned to support said shelf, characterized in that it comprises two locking elements (11, 12) positioned to clamp the shelf together and anchored to said shelf upright (3). 2. Shelf according to claim 1, characterized in that the two locking elements (11, 12) are clamped together by means of at least one clamping element (25c) passing through an opening of the shelf (28). 3. Shelf according to the preceding claim, characterized in that a first of the two locking elements (11) is anchored directly to the upright (3), while the other (12) is anchored to the upright at least through the first (11). Shelf according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upright (3) only partially interrupts the continuity of the shelf (2), which has at least one continuity area (5) placed in front of the upright (3). 5. Shelf according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the shelf (2) comprises at least one notch (20) which interrupts its continuity only partially and in which the upright (3) penetrates so as to cross the shelf in the area behind the continuity area (5), preferably the upright (3) has no housing seats for the shelf, even more preferably the notch (20) provides lateral support to the upright. 6. Shelf according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the shelf (2) comprises a through opening (28) to allow the passage through it of a clamping element (25c) adapted to clamp together the two locking elements ( 11, 12), preferably the notch (20) is of a width corresponding to the width (H) of the upright (3), and said opening (28) is a portion of the notch (20) wider than the upright (H) . 7. Shelf according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the two locking elements (11, 12) form a double collar at least partially around the upright (3). 8. Shelf according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the two locking elements (11, 12) have a U-shape, where the internal width of the U substantially corresponds to the thickness (H) of the upright. 9. Shelf according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shelf (2) has a notch (20) of a width substantially equal to the thickness (H) of the upright (3) starting from an internal side (8) of the shelf and ends in a central area (5), the upright penetrates the notch, both locking elements (11, 12) are U-shaped elements with an internal width substantially equal to the thickness (H) of the upright (3) and placed to fork it , one placed under the shelf (2) and one above, one of the two U-shaped elements (11) is anchored to the upright by means of one or more screws (22), the other (12) is anchored to the first (11) by at least a screw (25c) passing through the shelf (2) in a predetermined enlargement (28) of said notch (20), the U-shaped elements (11, 12) embrace the upright (3) for the entire depth of the notch, preferably the upright has a plate shape, preferably with a thickness in the range 5-30 mm. 10. Shelf according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upright (3) has at least one area (15) for fixing to the shelf where there are at least two anchoring points (16) arranged in series with each other in a vertical direction distance greater than the distance needed to lock the shelf (2) in a horizontal position. 11. Shelf according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the shelf (2) comprises a notch (20) which extends for part of its depth and into which the upright (3) penetrates to cross the shelf, at least the elements of locking (11) intended to provide the lower support to the shelf comprises anchoring means (22) directed to said anchoring points (16) of the upright, when the lower locking element (11) is anchored to the point (16) plus low and a retaining element is anchored to the highest point (16), they hold the shelf (2) together in an inclined configuration with respect to the horizontal. 12. Shelf assembly process comprising the following steps: - prepare at least one upright (3) and at least one shelf (2) to be fixed to the upright, - anchoring to the upright a first locking element (11) of the shelf in a first anchoring point (16); - locking with respect to the upright a retaining element (11b) of the shelf at a height (16) greater than that necessary to block the shelf in a horizontal position with respect to the locking element; - retaining the shelf between the first locking element and the holding element in an inclined position with respect to the horizontal; - use a second locking element (12) to lock the shelf in a horizontal position between the first and the second locking element (11, 12).